


midnight solace

by mxgicxltrxgedy



Series: Small Town Newsies High School AU [1]
Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, all can be read by themselves but share continuity so yeah, is it too ooc? i don't care, just a little fluff of spot spending the night with race, small town high school au, stand alone but exists in a universe of mine, this is a Southern small town setting too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:00:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23981221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mxgicxltrxgedy/pseuds/mxgicxltrxgedy
Summary: Spot visits Race with a knock on the window in the middle of the night.“You don’t have to explain why you’re here though, you’re allowed to come here whenever you want. I don’t mind sharing the bed with you, even if you don’t buy me breakfast.”
Relationships: Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins
Series: Small Town Newsies High School AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1743565
Comments: 2
Kudos: 51





	midnight solace

The glow from Race’s small television was the only light source in his room. It wasn’t too late, only eleven thirty, but Race was trying to sleep nonetheless. Actually, trying’ wasn’t the right word: Race was laying in bed on his side, his attention on his phone. He was playing Flow Bridges on his phone while the soundless TV played a rerun episode of Criminal Minds. Race’s fingers moved quick, connecting the dots to get through the levels.

Race was incredibly into his game that he almost jumped when he heard tapping at his window. Dropping the phone on his bed, Race sat up and moved the blinds out of the way and saw the face of his… something. His Spot.

This would not be Race and Spot’s first late night get together. Race had a room on the bottom floor of his house so it was easy for sneaking out or sneaking someone else in.

It was always Spot who came, a big grin on his face, ready to take Race away for the night; to McDonald’s, to the lake, to David’s house, or just to lay on Race’s trampoline in his backyard. Most of the time however, it was used for Spot and Race to lay on Race’s bed and watch Netflix on Race’s laptop. These nights came so few that Race felt special when Spot came to his window but still often enough that he wasn’t surprised to see Spot at his window when he heard tapping at the glass.

Spot was biting his lip and looking at Race through the window. Race unlocked and pushed the window up out of the way, and then moved the screen up as well so he could let Spot in.

“Can I hang out tonight?” Spot asked, biting his lip and putting his hands on the windowsill, his fingers tapping on the brick on the outside Race’s house.

Race had a feeling that this visit wasn’t as happy and flirty as it was usually.

“Dude, you don’t have to ask, climb in.” Race held the blinds back as Spot easily climbed in the window head first so his head landed softly on the foot end of Race’s bed. Spot, as gracefully as he could climb in through the window and snaked his way to the head of Race’s bed to lay down.

Race beat him to taking one of the pillows that was on his side and moved it so it was on the side of his bed Race didn’t sleep on. Spot slid himself into Race’s bed and put his arms around his torso. Race took the blanket he wasn’t using, a fluffy brown blanket that Spot used in the past, and pulled it up over Spot’s shoulders. Spot wordlessly accepted and grabbed the hem on the blanket and held it.

Race laid on his other side, rather than facing the TV, he faced Spot. Race felt completely under dressed, only wearing his boxers while Spot was still in his clothes from the day: black sneakers, his dark ripped jeans, a white muscle tank with some sort of graphic design. Race put his hand on Spot’s shoulder. “What’s going on?”

Spot looked at the foot of the bed, avoiding eye contact. “It’s nothing. Just stupid stuff. I just wanted to be here. Can I spend the night?”

“Of course you can stay the night, I can’t say no to you.” Race smiled at Spot. Spot looked up at Race and grinned, not so much that anyone else would notice, anyone except Race.

“You know I love you, right?” Spot asked. Race nodded and stretched his arms out to go around Spot’s waist and pull him closer. Spot rested his head on Race’s chest and let out a deep breath.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Race whispered.

“Maybe later, Racer. Not right now.” Race nodded, but made sure to wrap his arm around Spot and give him a little squeeze, just to know he’s there.

Spot let himself close his eyes and relax for a moment. Race just held him. No one else got to see Spot like this. Sure, Spot wasn’t one to talk about his feelings often, or talk about any sore subject, but this was what ‘vulnerable’ looked like for him. Race could be a little peeved sometimes that their relationship didn’t really have a label, and they had the unspoken rule of not talking about it in front of the other guys, but late night sleepovers and everything else that came along with Spot were pretty great in Race’s book so he wasn’t about to give them up at any time.

Race picked up his phone where he left it, and exited the game so he could pull up his Spotify account. He would offer to let Spot pick something out on the myriad of streaming services, but he was sure that Spot wouldn’t want to watch anything right now. Instead, he just turned down his phone on the lowest the volume could go (both to not wake his parents and so they could relax) and put Iron & Wine on shuffle for them to listen to. He put the phone on the charging dock on his night stand and allowed himself to get comfy.

After a few moments, Spot toed his shoes off, and let them sit at the end of the bed. Race didn’t bother to kick them off.

“I have some comfier clothes if you want to change?” Race offered. Race hated sleeping in pants, and the jeans Spot was wearing wouldn’t be the most comfortable thing to sleep in.

Spot sat up away from Race’s chest for a moment, only to unbutton his jeans and pull them off. Left in his boxers, he took his jeans and the shoes from the end of the bed and lightly tossed them onto the wooden floor of Race’s bedroom.

“Or you could do that. I didn’t want you to wear my clothes anyway. You stink.”

Spot laughed at that, fixing himself back to Race’s side and pulling the brown blanket over them both. Once he was back with his cheek on Race’s shoulder, he looked up. “I just wasn’t feeling good at home, so I wanted to come here. We can just ride together to school tomorrow morning. Maybe even stop by Hardee’s.”

Race shuffled their positions so he could lay on his side too- now they were laying closer together but each on their sides facing the other.

“Don’t tempt me with a good sausage biscuit in the morning. You know how much I love them.” He leaned over to Spot and gave him a short kiss on the lips. “You don’t have to explain why you’re here though, you’re allowed to come here whenever you want. I don’t mind sharing the bed with you, even if you don’t buy me breakfast.”

“Who said I was paying? I’m driving.” Spot retorted, but smiled his little smile all the same. “But thanks. You make the drive from bumfuck in the middle of the night bearable.”

Spot lived far out in the countryside. Sure, they all lived in the countryside, but Race lived in a neighborhood. Spot lived in the middle of nowhere and it always took him forty-five minutes to drive to school everyday. If he drove fast and there wasn’t anyone on the road, he could get to Race’s house in twenty-five minutes, but, at least when Race was with him, he never seemed to go ten or so over the speed limit. Spot acted like he hated the drive, but Race knew that he liked driving late at night without a destination in mind.

Race liked joining him too. Piling into the pick up truck that was once a classic shade of red but faded with scratches and a few dents. Race would sit with his hand on Spot’s knee and they would drive as far out as they could go and then they turned around and went right back. Sometimes it was to blast music, other times it was to talk and shoot the shit, and the other times it was to sit in silence and enjoy each other’s company. It was the only thing to do in town when all the fast food closed at ten o’clock except for the one McDonald’s across town whose drive-thru was 24-hour.

“Well we still have class tomorrow, and if we need to get up earlier to go through the Hardee’s line, then we should probably get some sleep.”

Spot nodded, giving Race a kiss on the cheek before turning over on his other side with his back to Race. Race took it as an opportunity to throw his arm around Spot’s middle and pull him a little closer. The music continued to play on Race’s phone and they went to bed.

Race had one more thought, before he could fully go to sleep he wanted to say it. “Thanks for coming though. I know that you don’t like to ‘bother me’ or whatever, but you never bother me. I want you to come here. I love having you here.”

Spot didn’t say anything, but grabbed the hand that was resting on his torso and squeezed it, and that was all Race needed.

* * *

After Race’s alarm rudely awakened them, and they got dressed (Spot being as quiet as he could be now that Race’s parents were awake and doing their daily routines around the house), Spot was on his way back out Race’s window, which would never get more graceful even if he tried.

“Do I have to wait before I pull up?” Spot whispered, still standing at the window. Race sat on his bed and shook his head.

“Nah, I’ll be out the door by the time you pull up. Don’t worry about it this time.”

Spot never parked at Race’s house. It was too risky considering that sometimes his parents woke up early and would definitely notice a truck parked at their house. There was an old lot a few houses down that used to have a house, but was torn down because of some reason or another but had a concrete driveway intact. A few people from the neighborhood used it as extra parking when need be, so it was Spot’s parking spot when he came by.

“Okay, I’ll see you in, like, three minutes.” Spot grabbed the collar of Race’s flannel and pulled him down for a kiss.

Race let himself get lost in it for a moment, before he pulled back into his bedroom. “You’re my Romeo, dude. And this is the balcony scene.”

Spot pulled a face. “Gross. Don’t say that when we actually have a friend called Romeo.”

“Whatever. Come pick me up.”

Race pulled down the screen to his window, then the window itself, pulling the lock, and finally moving the blinds back in place. He fixed his shirt collar, making himself look presentable. Then he grabbed his backpack and went out his bedroom door.

In the kitchen, his mom was on her phone standing by the coffee machine, already dressed for work. She heard him come in and looked up in surprise.

“What are you doing ready so early? We don’t have to go for another 30 minutes or so.”

Race went to her and gave her a quick hug. “My friend’s picking me up, and he’s gonna be here soon. We’re gonna stop and get breakfast before school starts.”

“David?” She asked.

“No, Sean. He texted me he was on the street, so I’m gonna scoot.” Race was walking toward the front door.

“Alright, but I’m gonna check your attendance online to make sure you’re at school!”

“Okay, I’ll see you later!”

Race was out the front door, and just in time to see Spot pull in behind his mom’s SUV in the driveway. He happily made his way across the yard back to Spot. He opened the passenger side door and climbed in.

“Wow, that shirt looks good on you! Where’d you get it?”

Spot glanced down at the shirt he stole from Race’s closet this morning: a plain dark red v-neck shirt. “Shut up. Do you want food or not?”

Spot did end up buying both his and Race’s breakfasts. Race didn’t feel too guilty though, because he got to make up for it in the school parking lot before classes started.

**Author's Note:**

> So the story of this is that I was going through my old works from 3ish years ago on my old DropBox account and I found the beginning of this in my old stuff. This takes place in a larger universe of my small town high school Newsies AU, that I never finished or posted because honestly it wasn't /good/. But I liked this enough to finish it so here it is. 
> 
> If you want to find me I'm @we-were-both-born-today on tumblr, but I don't typically write any musical-related fic so you're not gonna find much if you're looking for that, sorry


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